"Earthbound ? Surfing the Apocalypse" is a transmedia project by Norwegian electronic musician and author Per Martinsen, launched around 2010. It intricately weaves together a novel, music, art installations, and digital media to craft a multifaceted narrative experience.
📖 The Novel
At the core is a dystopian sci-fi novel titled Earthbound ? Surfing the Apocalypse, initially serialized on a blog and later published as a Kindle edition. The story follows Victor Ixelles, aka Vix, whose blog entries serve as the narrative backbone, exploring themes of dystopia and existential reflection.
🎧 The Soundtrack
Complementing the novel is Earthbound ? A Virtual Soundtrack, a compilation of 10 electronic musical pieces featured on Vix's blog. This album includes contributions from various artists and serves as an auditory extension of the novel's themes. It was released digitally and as a CD, with a limited 12" vinyl edition featuring tracks "Earthbeat" and "Lazer Ray" by Martinsen under his alias PM.
🖼️ Art Installations and Exhibitions
The project extended into the physical realm through art installations and gallery exhibitions, notably in Tromsø in 2010. These installations provided immersive experiences that echoed the project's narrative and thematic elements.
🌐 Digital and Interactive Elements
Beyond the blog and music, the project incorporated unmarked vinyl albums and a series of stickers placed in London, adding layers of interactivity and real-world engagement to the fictional universe.
Through Earthbound ? Surfing the Apocalypse, Martinsen explores the convergence of digital and physical storytelling, inviting audiences to engage with the narrative across multiple platforms and mediums.
Autorentext
Per Martinsen is an electronic musician, artist and self-published author from Tromsø, Northern Norway. He has produced and released a vast pool of music over the last 30 years and scored films, composed for art installations and been commissioned to remix a long list of other artist's work.
Combining a variety of mediums with writing, his 'transmedia novel' EARTHBOUND - SURFING THE APOCALYPSE was published in 2012, and his latest project PYRAMIDS ON THE MOON - A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY is currently a work in progress that can be supported and followed on his Patreon page (se website link).